InvestorIntelReport: It’s all about batteries.

InvestorIntelReport for May 2015: Though the news lately has been consolidation of the Chinese rare earth companies, the talk elsewhere this month was about batteries. This was very good for lithium and graphite stocks. There was news about graphite everywhere from Elon Musk’s powerwall batteries to mention in the US senate; specifically our members Graphite One and rare earth company Ucore Rare Metals deposits’ in Alaska were discussed.

Numbers for May were up and down, yet on average our members were up 6.65%. The sector that did the best was Graphite and Graphene, up 22.06%. This was no surprise after all the talk of batteries for electric cars and Tesla’s powerwall batteries in homes this month. Next was Technology stocks, which were up 17.92%. The companies specifically involved with lithium were up 13.76%, including Critical Elements Corp.(TSXV: CRE OTCQX: CRECF), who were the #4 dollar amount gainer.

Then came Clean Tech, up 11.27%, and Gold & Precious Metals at 7.67%. Technology Metals were up 1.84%, though there were several members up and down considerably. Rare earth companies were up 3.09%. Agriculture & Medical Marijuana stocks were up 1.09%. Bio-Tech was down 2.37%, and Oil & Gas was down 5.11%, due to global uncertainties in that market. Uranium & Energy was down the most at 12.48%.

Percentage Gainers:

The stock that did the best was graphite company Elcora Resources Corp. (TSXV: ERA), who were up 88.46%. They announced news this month about their processing at their Ragadera graphite mine. Unlike most of the competition, Ragadera is an operating mine in Sri Lanka. Next was Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SMY), who went up 60%, they had good news about their many rare earth deposits in Labrador. Next were two companies that were both up 50%: Great Lakes Graphite Inc. (TSXV: GLK), & Green Swan Capital Corp. (TSXV: GSW). Critical Elements Corp. were up 43.14% on the OTCQX & 24.32% on the TSXV. Then came Graphite One Resources Inc. (TSXV: GPH | OTCQX: GPHOF), who were up 25% & 34.38% respectively.

The fact that the last two stocks did better on the US markets rather than the Canadian markets could have to do with the mention of graphite being critical to the US economy in the US Senate and in a recent bill in the US House.

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The final company in the top 5 was also in graphite: Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. (TSXV: ZEN | OTCQX: ZENYF), who were up 27.78% & 35.51% respectively, on the strength of good news not just in the graphite industry but also about their Albany deposit in Northern Ontario.

Dollar Amount Gainers:

The biggest gainer in terms of dollar amount was graphite company Zenyatta, whose stock rose $0.552 USD on the OTCQX, and $0.50 CAD on the TSXV. Next was Alkane who rose $0.436 USD on the OTCQX. Alkane are considered to be the next rare earth producer outside of China. The #1 in percentage, Elcora, was #3, up $0.12, CAD on the TSXV. Then was Critical Elements who were up $0.07 USD on the OTCQX.

Zenyatta continues the trend of graphite stocks being up more on the US market than the Canadian markets. This makes sense after all the talk of graphite and other critical minerals being import dependent in the US, yet there are deposits in the US that are not being utilized yet.

None of these numbers are major surprises. Graphite did the best, as I’d expected, due to the news about Elon Musk’s powerwall batteries for homes, that require lithium, graphite, and rare earths. These batteries put almost all of our members sectors into one product. Our #1 in percentage is a graphite producer, Elcora. And #3 in percentage was also in graphite: Great Lakes Graphite who announced progress towards commercial operations May 28th, and as a result made most of their 50% gain in the last two days of the month. And #5 was also a graphite company, Zenyatta.

It is becoming more well known that the lithium batteries that power the Tesla autos, and could soon power homes also need large amounts of graphite. The possibility of such solar powered batteries, made by Musk’s comapany Solar City, was called the ‘democritization of energy.’ The need for a domestic supply of graphite, a critical, strategic mineral, was mentioned in the US Senate this month, as the US has produced no graphite since 1991. InvestorIntel member Graphite One who were mentioned in the Senate, have the largest graphite deposit in North America, at Graphite Creek in Alaska. This is the state that provides the most funding in the US for mining through AIDEA (Alaska Indusrial Develeopment & Export Authority).

The news for technology metals was quite up and down. The announcement this past month that China will consolidate 6 major rare earth companies was a game changer, possibly causing a few stocks to go down considerably. But the story in the US is that domestic supplies of these critical minerals should be fostered. Several Technology Metals stocks did do well, such as Neometals Ltd. (ASX: NMT), who were up 15.38%, and Search, the #2 gainer in percentage. Search had several pieces of good news this past month, including announcing funding for a study on a separation facility for rare earths in Labrador.

Gold & Precious Metals continued to do well; as oil goes down, gold usually goes up. And several insiders were bullish on copper as it is also an element of modern electric batteries. Biotech was down slightly, but Theralase Technologies Inc. (TSXV: TLT), were up on good news about their anti-cancer compounds and light therapy.

Uranium was down the most, but there are only 3 member companies in that sector. Oil & Gas was down 5.11% this past month, due to many uncertainties in that market lately, such as sanctions against Russia, and the first changeover in the Alberta governing party since 1971. It is likely that oil will go up before the end of the year, but we shall see.

As for my month, I survived 4 weeks at InvestorIntel. This included a story about biodiesel which I think is the best idea in the world. Only biodiesel can be added to petroleum to lower the emissions of petroleum. Oil is the largest market in the world, and biodiesel is being mandated into that market. This month I also made a trip to Pickering with InvestorIntel Publisher Tracy Weslosky, to see the facilities of medical marijuana company Abba Medix. The facility is well laid out, but they are not producing yet.

All in all it was a positive month for our members. April was very good for Technology Metals but that was not expected to continue, yet the sector was up slightly. Our new section, Technology, of course did well. No surprise there, nor was there that Oil & Gas was down. The news this month though was graphite for batteries and our graphite companies did excellent. Having two of our members mentioned in the US senate as having critical, strategic deposits is good for business, and the bill introduced in March to foster supply of these minerals has helped, and will likely continue to push up graphite stocks as the US seeks to create a domestic industry.

So do you want to see the InvestorIntel leaders and their numbers? And do you want to know what the Top 15 most read articles were on InvestorIntel last week? To access, click here to log-into InvestorIntelReport or wait for Asher to email this directly to you shortly; and/or click here to join the InvestorIntelReport.